The Nutrition Landscape in India: Findings from the National Family Health Surveys

Authors:

Fred Arnold

Source:

Demography India, Vol. 36, No. 2 (2007), pp. 181-213

Topic(s):

Nutrition

Country:

Asia
India

Published:

2007

Abstract:

THE seriousness of nutritional deficiencies in India has been well known for a long time, but recent findings from the 2005-06 National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) and other sources on the lack of improvements in child nutrition over time have caught the attention of policymakers at the highest levels of the government. Earlier this year, Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh sent a letter to the Chief Ministers of every state expressing his
displeasure at the lack of achievement of child nutrition programmes and said that the
situation calls for urgent action. The Chief Ministers were directed to revamp their Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programmes and to report back to him every quarter on what they have done and the results of their actions. Similar concerns about the lack of progress in child nutrition have been candidly expressed by officials from the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Members of Parliament, UNICEF, and others. The media has been filled with countless stories about the fact that the Indian economy is booming but children are being left behind. In this lecture, I will summarize some of the key findings that have led to raising the level of consciousness about the nutritional problems of children in India. I will also examine the nutritional situation of women and men, and will analyze the determinants of nutritional deficiencies……………..

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